McLaren's Zak Brown shares his feelings about Nolan Siegel achieving an IndyCar career first at Barber

Arrow McLaren driver Nolan Siegel made it into the Fast 6 qualifying session at the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsport Park following a poor qualifying result at the beginning of the season. McLaren CEO Zak Brown came out to hail Siegel's effort and career first.

Siegel barely made it into the Fast 6 session, finishing P6 during qualifying round 2. However, the youngster got in at the cost of his teammates Christian Lundgaard and Pato O'Ward, who just missed out and will start the race just outside the Top 6 in P7 & P8.

The 20-year-old finished the Fast 6 session dead last, but will start the race just ahead of his teammates in P6. However, the performance by Nolan Siegel was his career best result in an IndyCar qualifying. What's even more intriguing is that Seigel was able to beat teammates Lundgaard and O'Ward, who had locked out the front row at Thermal Club.

Zak Brown shared a post on X on May 4, 2025, praising Siegel for his career-best qualifying result. The McLaren CEO also hyped Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard for a strong result on race day at Barber Motorsport Park.

“Top-notch driving from Nolan at Barber today to qualify a career-best sixth. Christian and Pato will roll off right behind him in P7 and P8. Let’s bring it home tomorrow @ArrowMcLaren. 👊” read Brown's tweet.

Seigel qualified P11 for the season opener at St Pete but retired in the first lap after a collision with Will Power. The American started P16 at the Thermal Club and finished P19. At the recent race at Long Beach, Seigel started P11 and finished in P20.

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“Show what our #6 team is capable of”: Nolan Siegel reflects on Alabama Indy Grand Prix qualifying

Nolan Siegel had an above-average start to the race weekend at Barber as he finished P9 in the first practice session and P14 in the rain-affected second practice. The Arrow McLaren driver breezed through the first qualifying session and barely made the cut for the Fast 6.

Looking back at his career best qualifying position, Nolan Siegel shared a post on X that read:

“First fast 6! Really happy to be able to show what our #6 team is capable of! It’s nice to see it all come together in qualifying, now it’s time to do the same on Sunday. Tomorrow should be fun 🕷️”

Alex Palou took the pole position with Scott McLaughlin starting alongside the championship leader. Colton Herta completed the Top 3 with Will Power and Rinus VeeKay completing the Top 5 starting positions for the Alabama Indy Grand Prix.